Intuition

Not a word I use often, but it's one that has come into my mind twice in recent days.

I was reading a book* yesterday that was published back in 1994. In it the author, Dr Peter Scott-Morgan suggests that the days when managers could take decisions based on intuition have gone. He suggests that being able to do so requires a certain amount of experience, or put another way, knowledge of what the best decision is likely to be based on previous experiences. If that was the case back in 1994, how much more true is it today!

The current economic environment is like nothing we’ve seen before. OK, some commentators make comparisons with the 1930's but one thing is absolutely certain - business leaders of today haven’t led through times like these and neither have people managers managed in times like these. Clearly no-one has direct and comparable experience on which they can draw. Is relying on intuition therefore outdated, unhelpful and perhaps dangerous?

The second occassion when the word intuition came into my mind was actually last week as I stood in a queue in my bank. I observed a customer walking away from the counter having obviously completed a transaction. It was a relatively small branch and as such didn't have the automated message directing the customer to a specific till position and perhaps because of this the customer stepped forward and walked towards the till, only to suddenly stop and then slowly walk backwards to the front of the queue again. The problem was that the cashier was still completing paperwork following the previous transaction. I'm sure that they were aware the customer had approached and consciously chose to avoid eye contact and not look up to signal to the customer that they weren't yet ready. That's not unreasonable I guess but I believe the impact on the customer wasn't what the bank would have wanted, she was clearly a little embarrassed about having to retrace her steps to the front of the busy queue. It's probably counter-intuitive, but it would have been a far better experience for the customer if the cashier had immediately made eye contact and let them know they'd be ready in a few moments. Or perhaps better still, if the procedures werre more efficient and meant that the cashier could move on to the next customer as soon as the previous one walked away.

There was a huge contrast the following day with what I experienced at Pret a Manger. The queue here was longer, and yet the assistant made eye contact with me within seconds of my joining the queue, in fifth position. I felt as a result that he was aware I was there and was doing what he could do get to me as quickly as possible. I mentioned this story to someone else who made a comparison with standing at the bar in busy pub. It can be a real struggle to catch the barpersons eye and get served but if they just make eye contact with you it somehow communicates that you can relax, safe in the knowledge that they're coming to you.

* The Unwritten Rules of the Game by Dr Peter Scott-Morgan